Cobalion (Mixed Attacker)

Cobalion

[SET]
name: Mixed Attacker
move 1: Close Combat
move 2: Hidden Power Ice
move 3: Volt Switch
move 4: Stealth Rock / Taunt
item: Expert Belt
nature: Naive
evs: 28 Atk / 228 SpA / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

<p>Cobalion has great typing and an excellent Speed stat, and this set takes advantage of these traits. Close Combat is a strong STAB move that OHKOes offensive threats such as Heatran and Hydreigon, as well as Blissey, after Stealth Rock. Hidden Power Ice is what allows Cobalion to be such a superb offensive check to physical Dragon-types such as Dragonite, and Salamence; Cobalion can OHKO them (the first two after Stealth Rock) while easily tanking Outrage, even if they have boosted two or three times. It also OHKOes any Gliscor and Landorus(-T), expecting a physical set, making Cobalion a good lure for these three. Volt Switch is a perfect scouting tool for offensive teams that lets Cobalion damage common checks, such as Gengar, Latios, and Tornadus-T, while gaining switch advantage; it also OHKOes Gyarados after Stealth Rock and deals upwards of 50% to standard Skarmory and Starmie. Stealth Rock is an excellent move for offensive teams, and Cobalion finds plenty opportunities to set it up, but Taunt prevents Pokemon such as Skarmory, Forretress, Deoxys-D, and Ferrothorn from setting up.</p>

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]

<p> Maximum Speed with a Naive nature are used to outspeed Landorus and speed tie with the base 108 group. The following damage calculations highlight the effectiveness of the offensive EVs:</p>

<ul class="damage_calculation">
<li>- Hidden Power Ice vs 252 HP Gliscor: 100.28 - 119.2%</li>
<li>- Hidden Power Ice vs 200 HP Landorus-T: 102.71 - 120.86%</li>
<li>- Hidden Power Ice vs 4 SpD Dragonite (without Multiscale): 86.06 - 102.47%</li>
<li> - Hidden Power Ice vs 0 HP Naive Salamence: 114.5 - 134.74%</li>
<li>- Hidden Power Ice vs 4 HP Breloom: 80.53 - 95.41%</li>
<li>- Volt Switch vs 56 HP Gyarados: 82.02 - 97.39% (OHKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers)</li>
<li>- Volt Switch vs 252 HP Skarmory: 56.88 - 66.76%</li>
<li>- Volt Switch vs 4 SpD Starmie: 62.45 - 74.32%</li>
<li>- Close Combat vs 4 HP / 252 Blissey: 88.65 - 104.9% (OHKO after Stealth Rock)</li>
<li>- Close Combat vs 4 HP Terrakion: 100 - 117.9%</li>
<li>- Close Combat vs 0 HP Heatran: 86.99 - 102.47% (OHKO after Stealth Rock 93.75% of the time)</li></ul>

<p>Expert Belt is the item of choice because Cobalion relies on super effective coverage to hurt its targets; Expert Belt also preserves Cobalion's fantastic physical bulk and helps take advantage of its resilience to passive damage courtesy of its Steel typing. Stone Edge can be used if you want to OHKO offensive Volcarona and seriously dent bulky ones. Thunder Wave is also a good option as most of Cobalion's checks and counters, such as Latios, Latias, Gengar, Choice Scarf Genesect, Tornadus-T, and Volcarona, despise it. X-Scissor allows Cobalion to deal with Celebi and Latios and is its strongest option against Latias and Reuniclus. Finally, Leftovers is an acceptable item choice if you want Cobalion to act more as a tank, although the lack of power is really noticeable; without Expert Belt, Cobalion will also miss out on all the OHKOs mentioned above.</p>

<p>As with most Steel-types, Dragon-types are very nice partners, as they have great synergy; in particular, Dragonite, Salamence, Latios, and Latias, resist or are immune to every weakness of Cobalion, while Cobalion covers every single one of their weaknesses. Rotom-W is another good partner, as it resists Fire and is immune to Ground and also checks many threats that outspeed and KO Cobalion, such as Starmie, Tornadus-T and Choice Scarf Genesect. It also has Volt Switch, enabling the two to shuffle the opponent's team, force out each others counters, and rack up hazards damage. In the same vein, Choice Scarf Genesect handles many threats that Cobalion struggles against, such as Latios, Latias, Celebi, Gengar, Alakazam, Tornadus-T, and Starmie, and gets a free switch against any of them with a well-timed Volt Switch from Cobalion, forming an annoying Volt-turn core. Anything that is remotely bulky and not weak to Cobalion's moves easily walls it, unfortunately. For this reason, Latios, Latias, Celebi, Volcarona, Reuniclus, Gastrodon, specially defensive Jirachi, Tentacruel, and specially defensive Hippowdon are all good counters provided Cobalion doesn't carry a move they are afraid of, such as Stone Edge or X-Scissor. Choice Scarf Genesect, Gengar, Alakazam, Tornadus-T, Starmie, Jolteon, and any special attacker faster than Cobalion that can take some of its attacks and OHKO back is a good check.</p>

Err, Mixed Cobalion was proposed in the Cobalion analysis, was tested by QC and was rejected.

Any reason why you are proposing the same set that was rejected not that long ago or...?

I talked with some QC members and they said they would give it a try.

jc104 had rejected the LO variant, not this one. And they have huge difference, as he said himself, as EB does not jeopardize Cobalion's excellent physical bulk, while still getting the important ohko-2hkoes. The main reason that the LO set was rejected was because it did more damage to himself that to the opponent, and was easy as fuck to wear down. This set has no such problems.

PK Gaming also told me that he will try out the set, and Accidental Greed gave me a heads up about the set, so i think it at least deserves some consideration...

EDIT: Added some defensive calcs.

I gave it a shot on the ladder and was pleasantly surprised; this set is good.

It's one of the best offensive Stealth Rock setters in the game, since you're opponent is going to have a hell of a time trying to OHKO this thing without a powerful Special move. Volt Switch hilariously good move; we've all grown accustomed to Forretress, but Cobalion is fairly good at using it, even with it's naturally high speed. The most important thing to consider is that Cobalion is one of the few offensive Pokemon in the game that can actually handle an Outrage using Dragon. It obviously crumbles to coverage to coverage moves, but you can use it to take on +1 Outrages (Moxie Scarf Mence, CB Hax / Dnite, etc) and its natural bulk will even let it take on unboosted Earthquakes. Alexwolf is right when he says that it pairs up well with Genesect (though pretty much anything that safely brings in Genesect is a good partner) so it gets bonus points for that. It should also be noted that it was one of the better SubToxic Gliscor checks in the game, since Hidden Power Ice will always OHKO and it's immune to toxic (obviously gotta watch out for EQ, but that sky high physical defensive stat means you won't get OHKOed from an EQ). Oh and it's like Mamo in that it can deter Donphan from doing his "business" in front of Cobalion with HP ice.

All in all, Mixed Cobalion is pretty damn good at what it does, it's just that in general it lacks bite, and it's special defense stat is garbage. He's right in that LO easily wore it down, and Cobalion just didn't neeed the extra power. Let's be honest here, the other Cobalion sets are rather underwhelming in OU, but this set is actually somewhat decent, so I have no problem approving this.

[qc]1/3[/qc]

Just verifying what alexwolf said. I have no idea why I didn't suggest this in the previous thread; I suppose I was worried that the set might be too weak without LO.

Even bearing this in mind, I think Leftovers ought to be considered here. Despite its offensive EVs, much of this sets use is for defense, support, and momentum grabbing, none of which actually requires that additional power. With Leftovers, it'll be almost impossible to wear Cobalion down at all.

Thx a lot PK for the approval!

jc, you have a point about Lefties, which would make Cobalion nearly immortal if you play him right, but i don't think it should get a slash on the main set, as without EB, Cobalion misses out a ton of ohkoes, which he needs to get, in order to be a succesful offensive pivot.

So maybe put a Lefties mention in AC? Not sure, i want some other opinions here... And please i want people trying out this set before saying suggestions, as it is very different in theory and in practice.

This thing is ridiculously easy to use for me, and by far one of my new favorites (because it's Cobalion!); as PK highlighted, not only is Cobalion one of the best offensive Stealth Rock users in OU (Infernape could do it, but it can't take hits or afford to use HP-saving items), but it can easily hold its own against so many threats in the game. Just pair this up with other U-turn or Volt Switch users, maybe add in Gothitelle just in case Terrakion or other Fighting-types catch Cobalion first, and you're pretty much solid.



QC APPROVED 2/3

Also, about Leftovers; when I tested this thing out a couple days ago, I accidentally used Leftovers for a couple of battles since I was changing defensive Cobalion to this one. The extra health does benefit, but let me confirm this by switching items again today/tomorrow. The Expert Belt, in experience, is required for super effective hits.

Thx a lot AG! 1 more guys...

My sentiments towards this set have already been expressed above; Expert Belt makes it very effective at bluffing a Choice Scarf, allowing it to be a very effective lure. Because of this reason, Leftovers should probably be in AC, as this set loses a lot of its surprise factor once the enemy knows that Cobalion is not choiced. What puts this thing above most other Mixed Attackers is that it can very easily knock out Blissey, which most opponenets will switch in after seeing Hidden Power Ice. It's also very good at maintaining momentum.


QC APPROVED 3/3

Thx SIU! This will be written in a few days.

Yeah, this set is alright, but before you start writing, I'd suggest that you don't mention anything about bluffing a Choice Scarf with Expert Belt. The reason should be obvious, since you know, Choice Scarf Cobalion is just flat out bad and no-one uses it, so no one is going to end up fooled by lack of Leftovers or Life Orb. Instead, you should probably say that since Blissey comes in after seeing HP Ice, they might be fooled into thinking you're a special attacker (Calm Mind), not a Choice Scarfer.

Yeah shrang i am aware of all these, and i will mention the ability to lure some physical/special walls. There is the example of Blissey, and there is also the example of, let's say a Gliscor, which comes to tank a CC, thinking you are physical, and then gets smashed by HP Ice.

Ready for GP checks!

Deletions
Additions / Corrections
Comments



I will just list some of the repeated errors I found:

• Use the serial comma when listing three or more things in a list. (example: Tom, Dick, (this one) and Harry walked into a bar.)
• Be consistent with what you use to refer to Pokemon. Don't alternate between "it" and 'him"; use either one.

The rest were generic prose errors which you can fix by going through my check carefully. Make sure you understand all of my corrections; if you have any doubts, get back to me!

[gp]1/2[/gp]

GP check implemented, thx a lot Calm Pokemaster! And yeah sry that my writing is a bit messy, i suck at writing...

I have 2 questions though... You corrected the Volt-turn term i had written, to VoltTurn. Is this correct? Because U-turn does not have the t capitalized...

And also in the first paragraph:

Volt Switch is a perfect scouting tool for offensive teams; it OHKOes Gyarados after Stealth Rock

Click to expand...

You put '';'' instead of a comma that i had, and i want to ask, is this necessary? Note that the fact that Volt Switch ohkoes Gyarados and does upwards of 50% to Starmie and Skarmory is not an explanation as to why Volt Switch is a perfect scouting tool, it is an added information, so i don't think that the '';'' is needed. Iirc '';'' is used when explaining something already mentioned no?

A semicolon is used to bridge two sentences that are making the same point without a conjunction. Your example has two sentences bridged via comma with no transition, making it grammatically unsound. If you wanted to use a comma instead, it should read:

Volt Switch is a perfect scouting tool for offensive teams, as it OHKOes Gyarados after Stealth Rock [+ several other compelling points supporting the former statement]

Click to expand...

Liberal comma usage tends to lead to run-on sentences and unnecessary pauses.

i gots this :O

[SET COMMENTS]

<p>Cobalion has great typing and an excellent Speed stat, and this set takes advantage of these traits. Close Combat is a strong STAB move that OHKOes offensive threats such as Blissey after Stealth Rock, Heatran, and Hydreigon. Heatran and Hydreigon, as well as Blissey, after Stealth Rock. Hidden Power Ice is what allows Cobalion to be such a superb offensive check to physical Dragon-types such as Dragonite, Garchomp, and Salamence; Cobalion can OHKO them (the first two after Stealth Rock) while easily tanking Outrage, even if they have boosted two or three times {thrice just sound out of place here} twice or thrice. It also OHKOes any Gliscor and Landorus(-T), expecting a physical set, making Cobalion a good lure for these three. Volt Switch is a perfect scouting tool for offensive teams, as it OHKOes Gyarados after Stealth Rock and deals upwards of 50% to standard Skarmory and Starmie. Stealth Rock is an excellent move for offensive teams, and Cobalion finds plenty opportunities to set it up, while but Taunt prevents Pokemon such as Skarmory, Forretress, Deoxys-D, and Ferrothorn from setting up.</p>

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]

<p> Maximum Speed with a Naive nature are used to outspeed Landorus and Garchomp and speed tie with the base 108 group. The following damage calculations highlight the effectiveness of the offensive EVs:</p>

<ul class="damage_calculation">
<li>- Hidden Power Ice vs 252 HP Gliscor: 100.28 - 119.2%</li>
<li>- Hidden Power Ice vs 200 HP Landorus-T: 102.71 - 120.86%</li>
<li>- Hidden Power Ice vs 4 SpD Dragonite (without Multiscale): 86.06 - 102.47%</li>
<li> - Hidden Power Ice vs 0 HP Naive Salamence: 114.5 - 134.74%</li>
<li>- Hidden Power Ice vs 4 HP Breloom: 80.53 - 95.41%</li>
<li>- Hidden Power Ice vs 4 HP Garchomp: 89.94 - 105.86% (75% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock)</li>
<li>- Volt Switch vs 56 HP Gyarados: 82.02 - 97.39% (OHKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers)</li>
<li>- Volt Switch vs 252 HP Skarmory: 56.88 - 66.76%</li>
<li>- Volt Switch vs 4 SpD Starmie: 62.45 - 74.32%</li>
<li>- Close Combat vs 4 HP / 252 Blissey: 88.65 - 104.9% (OHKO after Stealth Rock)</li>
<li>- Close Combat vs 4 HP Terrakion: 100 - 117.9%</li>
<li>- Close Combat vs 0 HP Heatran: 86.99 - 102.47% (OHKO after Stealth Rock 93.75% of the time)</li></ul>

<p>Expert Belt is the item of choice because Cobalion relies on super effective coverage to hurt its targets; it Expert Belt also preserves Cobalion's great physical bulk and helps take advantage of its resilience to passive damage courtesy of its Steel typing. Stone Edge can be used if you want to OHKO offensive Volcarona, remove and seriously dent bulky ones. Thunder Wave is also a good option,[comma] as most of Cobalion's checks and counters, such as Latios, Latias, Gengar, Choice Scarf Genesect, Tornadus-T, and Volcarona, despise it. X-Scissor deals with Celebi and Latios and is Cobalion's strongest option against Latias and Reuniclus. Finally, Leftovers is an acceptable item choice if you want Cobalion to act more as a tank, although the lack of power is really noticeable; without Expert Belt, Cobalion will also miss out on all the OHKOs mentioned above.</p>

<p>As with most Steel-types, Dragon-types are very nice partners, as they have great synergy; in particular, Dragonite, Salamence, Latios, and Latias, resist or are immune to every weakness of Cobalion, while Cobalion covers every single one of their weaknesses. Rotom-W is another good partner, as it resists Fire and is immune to Ground, while and also checking checks many threats that outspeed and KO Cobalion, such as Starmie, Tornadus-T and Choice Scarf Genesect. It also has Volt Switch, enabling the two to shuffle the opponent's team, force out each others counters, and rack up hazards damage. In the same vein, Choice Scarf Genesect handles many threats that Cobalion struggles against, such as Latios, Latias, Celebi, Gengar, Alakazam, Tornadus-T, and Starmie, and gets a free switch against any of them with a well-timed Volt Switch from Cobalion, while also forming an annoying Volt-Turn core. Anything that is remotely bulky and not weak to Cobalion's moves easily walls it, unfortunately. For this reason, Latios, Latias, Celebi, Volcarona, Reuniclus, Gastrodon, specially defensive Jirachi, Tentacruel, and specially defensive Hippowdon are all good counters provided Cobalion doesn't carry a move they are afraid of, such as Stone Edge or X-Scissor. Choice Scarf Genesect, Gengar, Alakazam, Tornadus-T, Starmie, Jolteon, and any special attacker faster than Cobalion that can take some of its attacks and OHKO back is a good check.</p>

[gp]2[/gp] nice!!

Thx for the GP check Vox, added most of it. I have a few things to discuss with you...

On the first paragraph:

Close Combat is a strong STAB move that OHKOes offensive threats such as Heatran and Hydreigon, as well as Blissey, after Stealth Rock.

Click to expand...

This is the original sentence which you want to be rewrittten as:

Close Combat is a strong STAB move that OHKOes offensive threats such as Blissey after Stealth Rock, Heatran, and Hydreigon.

Click to expand...

My problems with this change are two. First Blissey is not an offensive poke, which is why i said ''as well as''. Second every one of those threats requires SR to always be OHKOed, so it should be mentioned for all of them.

Moving on... In the end of the first paragraph, you corrected the while i had with but:

opportunities to set it up, while but Taunt

Click to expand...

Isn't the word but used to merge two sentences that have a relationship of contrast, which does not happen here? I know that this is a very little detail, but i am trying to learn :D

Lastly to clear this up, because there seems to be a confusion in general. In the sentence that i mention Volt Switch's usefulness... The part where i say that Volt Switch is a great scouting tool for offensive teams and the part where i say that it deal good damage to Gyarados, Starmie and Skarmory are two different things. Volt Switch is not a great scouting tool because it does so much damage to those pokes. Volt Switch is a great scouting tool because it gives you switch advantage and preserves momentum. The fact that it deals this much damage to those pokes is a bonus, and this is why i am hesistant to merge the two parts with ''as it'', because this way it would be like the second part explains why the first part is true. Lol i hope what i wrote makes sense.

Anyway that was all, expecting your reply.

EDIT: Oh and something else to all the GP members... How should i write Volt-turn? Volt-turn, Volt-Turn or VoltTurn?

EDIT 2: I also changed this sentence a bit:

X-Scissor allows Cobalion to deal with Celebi and Latios and is its strongest option against Latias and Reuniclus.

Click to expand...

Originally it was ''X-Scissor deals with bla bla bla'', but i think it is better this way, as it is not X-Scissor that deals with those pokes but Cobalion.

In response to the above post:

(1)Leave the mentioned sentence unchanged. Lem got it wrong there; Blissey isn't an offensive threat, so don't make his change.

(2)"But" is better here, (though "while" isn't exactly grammatically incorrect) as it indicates more clearly that there is a choice between the two moves.

(3)Now for this sentence which has led to so much confusion; change it as follows:

Volt Switch is a perfect scouting tool for offensive teams; it also OHKOes Gyarados after Stealth Rock and deals upwards of 50% to standard Skarmory and Starmie.

Click to expand...

My bad, I forgot to add the "also" there in my check <_<

(4)It is VoltTurn. Yeah, I know it is spelled "U-turn", but we decided on capitalizaing the "T" in VoltTurn for the sake of consistency with other combos like BoltBeam, EdgeQuake etc. Also, it looks neater than Voltturn :P

For any other doubts with spelling conventions, do check the Spelling and Grammar Standards thread.

garchomp is not ou; it's a suspect. plz remove all mentions of mister chomper.

Thx a lot for the help Calm Pokemaster, and any mentions of Garchomp were removed. Mr Cobalion is done!

oh sorry about 1 yeah I didn't notice offensive somehow...but "as well as" is always so awkward sounding. "after Stealth Rock" is also not clear it refers to all the Pokemon, so I would rewrite the sentence as

After offensive threats such as Heatran and Hydreigon and defensive threats such as Blissey take Stealth Rock damage, Close Combat can OHKO them.

That Close Combat is STAB should be fairly obvious, at least more obvious that you mean Heatran, Hydreigon, and Blissey require Stealth Rock to be OHKOed.

CP is correct in my intent on #2, "but" lets the reader know there are two choices for the last slot.

In regards to your Volt Switch comments, I think you could fix that by giving an concrete situation where it's scouting is useful, and then add something like "and it also OHKOes Gyarados etc." Adding that to the end lets the reader know it's a little extra benefit to the move.

But yes, good catches on your part

and we have lifdoff